Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Winter;19(1):1-8.
doi: 10.1310/sci1901-1.

Causes of spinal cord injury

Yuying Chen  1 , Ying Tang, Lawrence C Vogel, Michael J Devivo
Affiliations

Causes of spinal cord injury

Yuying Chen et al. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2013 Winter.

Abstract

Background: Knowledge of the causes of spinal cord injury (SCI) and associated factors is critical in the development of successful prevention programs.

Objective: This study analyzed data from the National SCI Database (NSCID) and National Shriners SCI Database (NSSCID) in the United States to examine specific etiologies of SCI by age, sex, race, ethnicity, day and month of injury, and neurologic outcomes.

Methods: NSCID and NSSCID participants who had a traumatic SCI from 2005 to 2011 with known etiology were included in the analyses (N=7,834). Thirty-seven causes of injury documented in the databases were stratified by personal characteristics using descriptive analysis.

Results: The most common causes of SCI were automobile crashes (31.5%) and falls (25.3%), followed by gunshot wounds (10.4%), motorcycle crashes (6.8%), diving incidents (4.7%), and medical/surgical complications (4.3%), which collectively accounted for 83.1% of total SCIs since 2005. Automobile crashes were the leading cause of SCI until age 45 years, whereas falls were the leading cause after age 45 years. Gunshot wounds, motorcycle crashes, and diving caused more SCIs in males than females. The major difference among race/ethnicity was in the proportion of gunshot wounds. More SCIs occurred during the weekends and warmer months, which seemed to parallel the increase of motorcycle- and diving-related SCIs. Level and completeness of injury are also associated with etiology of injury.

Conclusions: The present findings suggest that prevention strategies should be tailored to the targeted population and major causes to have a meaningful impact on reducing the incidence of SCI.

Keywords: epidemiology; etiology; prevention; spinal cord injuries.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Marino RJ, Ditunno JF, Jr, Donovan WH, Maynard F., Jr Neurologic recovery after traumatic spinal cord injury: data from the Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1999;80:1391–1396 - PubMed
    1. Fawcett JW, Curt A, Steeves JD, et al.Guidelines for the conduct of clinical trials for spinal cord injury as developed by the ICCP panel: spontaneous recovery after spinal cord injury and statistical power needed for therapeutic clinical trials. Spinal Cord. 2007;45:190–205 - PubMed
    1. DeVivo MJ, Chen Y, Mennemeyer ST, Deutsch A. Costs of care following spinal cord injury. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2011;16:1–9
    1. Cao Y, Chen Y, DeVivo MJ. Lifetime direct cost after spinal cord injury. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2011;16:10–16
    1. Cripps RA, Lee BB, Wing P, Weerts E, Mackay J, Brown D. A global map for traumatic spinal cord injury epidemiology: towards a living data repository for injury prevention. Spinal Cord. 2011;49:493–501 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources